New Delhi, Jul 22 (KNN)  The steel industry has called for withdrawal of 2.5 per cent import duty imposed on melting and stainless steel scrap, failing which raw material will be expensive, making domestic steel products less competitive in the international market.

“The government decision to increase import duty on metal scrap will ultimately increase the cost of raw material making our products more expensive in the international market. Though imports from Thailand and Malaysia are cheaper, we do not import much from those countries,” said Rajasthan Stainless Steel Re-Rollers Association, President, Vishnu Mittal.

He said the government should roll back the increase in import duty so as to make our products more competitive in markets like Middle East, European countries and USA.
“The decision would affect steel manufacturers in various states,” he added.

In May this year through two different notifications, the government imposed 2.5 per cent duty on various types of scraps - melting steel, stainless steel and aluminium.

“The decision to increase import duty on metal scrap will discourage the steel industry. The government should instead increase duty on import of gold which makes the 22-23 per cent of import duty to save the foreign exchange,” said All India Steel Re Rollers Association, President, Vinod Vashist.

The secondary steel producers manufacture nearly 40 per cent of India’s total production of about 32 million tonne, making them the largest importers of steel scrap. 

On an average India imports about 7 MT of melting scrap and about 1-2 MT of stainless steel scrap.  (KNN/SK/ES)